​"...During the farm crisis of the 1980s, an Iowa farmer asked if I knew the difference between a family farmer and a pigeon. When I said no, he delighted in explaining: “A pigeon can still make a deposit on a new John Deere.”

From NPR's The Salt:​This week, just days before he says goodbye to his job, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack landed one last punch in a brawl that's gone on at his department since he got there eight long years ago.

The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition reported on the US Department of Agriculture's 2014 Organic Production Survey, the first such survey since 2008. And there was good news - there was a 72% increase in organic sales over the last five years.

Addie Broyles writes in today's Austin Statesman how David Perkins of Beatnik Foods invested in local chicken producer Dewberry Farms, to both's benefit. Excellent example of what we hope to accomplish at AFI. Congrats David Perkins and Jane & Terry Levan!

You know an trend - in this case sustainably and humanely raised market animals - is hitting its stride when major "traditional" players start buying in via acquisition. Yesterday Perdue, a major family-owned poultry company, announced it had purchased Niman Ranch.

"The world of food and agriculture symbolizes most of what’s gone wrong in the United States. But because food is plentiful for most people, and the damage that conventional agriculture does isn’t readily evident to everyone it’s important that we look deeper, beyond food, to the structure that underlies most decisions: the political economy," starts Mark Bittman in this incisive critique.

"Shoppers across the United States are spending more time on the supermarket’s periphery — home to meat, fresh produce and dairy goods — and less in the center aisles, where processed foods rule. They’re piling on protein, moving toward organics, buying more niche brands — all in the name of what the food industry calls “wellness.” Full story at Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Kip Tom, a seventh-generation family farmer, is as much a chief technology officer as he is a farmer. Where his great-great-grandfather hitched a mule, “we’ve got sensors on the combine, GPS data from satellites, cellular modems on self-driving tractors, apps for irrigation on iPhones,” he said.

Study shows strong preference for local foods. Article about the study says "A.T. Kearney survey corroborates the importance of “local” to the nation’s food shoppers. “Almost 30% of grocery shoppers say they would consider purchasing food elsewhere if their preferred store does not carry local foods,” says the consultancy, noting further, “consumers have trust issues when buying local food at national and big box retailers.”

INSIGHTS

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